Scientists find new cervical cancer model

Dolphins could hold the key to studying cervical cancer, a study has found today.

Aquatic animal health experts believe the mammal could be an 'ideal model' to study the disease and find ways to prevent it.

University of Florida (UF) vets said at the annual meeting of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science that their findings are based on the close relationship between humans and dolphins.

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'We discovered that dolphins get multiple infections of papillomaviruses, which are known to be linked with cervical cancer in women,' said Hendrik Nollens, from UF's college of veterinary medicine.

'Dolphins are the only species besides humans that we know of that can harbour co-infections, or infections of multiple papillomavirus types, in the genital mucosa.'

There are approximately 100 types of human papillomaviruses, and multiple-type infections of up to eight HPV types have been reported in humans, Dr Nollens revealed.

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The presence of co-infections is believed to be one of the biggest risk factors for the development of cervical cancer in humans, although the researchers noted there is no evidence that dolphins develop the disease.

'Why do people develop the disease, but dolphins don't? If we can figure out why, the human medical community might be very interested in how that information might be applied to human strategies for preventing the disease,' Mr Nollens concluded.

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